Cost of Living Around the World

[ShahidT]

the thread on turkey-china wage and cost of living comparison got me interested. want to share this with you all, to inform our perspective on real standard of living amongst nations.

Cost of Living Index by Country 2014 Mid Year

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Map for easy comparison (click on the map)
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Food price by country (e.g. price of loaf of bread, milk, butter, etc.)
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in the first link, notice how Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh cluster near the bottom for CPI, rent, local purchasing and other indexes. when outsiders look at south asians as poor and backward, what they don't realize is that cost of living here is much less than even most developing countries, and prices are very politically sensitive. hence the nominal figures, or even purchasing power parity in fact, do not adequately capture this disparity in how far an international dollar will go here compared to other places.

 

[Ragnar]

That is why GDP per Capita (PPP) is a good measure. But here too South Asia doesn't fare too well. Plus many Sub-Saharan African countries have not been covered in the above map.

 

[Imran Khan]

cheap and low quality

 

[livingdead]

the thread on turkey-china wage and cost of living comparison got me interested. want to share this with you all, to inform our perspective on real standard of living amongst nations.

Cost of Living Index by Country 2014 Mid Year

​

Map for easy comparison (click on the map)
View attachment 130801​

Food price by country (e.g. price of loaf of bread, milk, butter, etc.)
__

in the first link, notice how Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh cluster near the bottom for CPI, rent, local purchasing and other indexes. when outsiders look at south asians as poor and backward, what they don't realize is that cost of living here is much less than even most developing countries, and prices are very politically sensitive. hence the nominal figures, or even purchasing power parity in fact, do not adequately capture this disparity in how far an international dollar will go here compared to other places.

if you want to travel and want to see how far your dollar will go.. consumer price + rent index is a good indicator... lower the better... (nepal/India/pakistan)..
if you want to live and work in a country use local purchasing power index.. higher the better (switzerland/USA/Qatar)

 

[+4vsgorillas-Apebane]

Looks like the U.S have the best balance. Low cost of living and high income.

As expected, bloody Australia is in the red.

 

[SanjeevaniButi]

Damn !!! India is the lowest in the world !

Must say this comes as a surprise to me. No wonder Bangladeshis are pole vaulting into India.

 

[Kloitra]

Damn !!! India is the lowest in the world !

Must say this comes as a surprise to me. No wonder Bangladeshis are pole vaulting into India.

What were you expecting. Every time I eat a 2 dollar roti and 3 dollar chai, it reminds me how cheap living is in India!

 

[SanjeevaniButi]

What were you expecting. Every time I eat a 2 dollar roti and 3 dollar chai, it reminds me how cheap living is in India!

That is because you eat roti and chai, maybe you should switch to Bread or Chinese takeaway.

 

[Kloitra]

That is because you eat roti and chai, maybe you should switch to Bread or Chinese takeaway.

That's everyday food dude. Roti and chai are luxuries that I can only have once a week when I find time to go to a restaurant. Anyways, the only product I can think of that comes close to Indian prices is milk.

 

[sree45]

While prices in India & Pakistan are very close to each other in all the parameters. BD is expensive, why so?

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Nice food to income chart posted in this thread by webmaster

Pakistanis spend nearly half of their income on food: Report | Page 2

 

[Nova2]

I guess its better if India remain 'avg' in this category,neva would i wana see my country in the top any time soon,neither would it be.

What were you expecting. Every time I eat a 2 dollar roti and 3 dollar chai, it reminds me how cheap living is in India!

For tht amount i could buy six of these

 

[Kloitra]

I guess its better if India remain 'avg' in this category,neva would i wana see my country in the top any time soon,neither would it be.

Its fine to top the chart, as long as the % amount of income spend on basics (food, housing etc) remains low on the average. Look at the thread @Peter C posted above. That is what matters.

For tht amount i could buy six of these
View attachment 132319

I get cheap internet, can't beat that, can you!

 

[Schutz]

Nice food to income chart posted in this thread by webmaster

Pakistanis spend nearly half of their income on food: Report | Page 2

Probably a better chart to look at, food in the UK is really cheap and I have out of choice not out of poverty survived on what would be a few dollars a day if not less. I can go to the supermarket and get a relatively good range of produce that would last me a week for about £30. I tend not to do that though as I buy unnecessary food liked smoked salmon and fillet steaks every week.

If you are poor you can buy enough half decent quality food for reasonable prices because the extreme competition between supermarkets where many products are sold at a loss just to get you in the door and with lots of half prices offers and buy one get two free etc your money can go very far. Then local markets have ridiculously cheap fruit/vegetables, always full of middle aged Pakistani women stocking up with boxes full haha

 

[esolve]

the thread on turkey-china wage and cost of living comparison got me interested. want to share this with you all, to inform our perspective on real standard of living amongst nations.

Cost of Living Index by Country 2014 Mid Year

​

Map for easy comparison (click on the map)
View attachment 130801​

Food price by country (e.g. price of loaf of bread, milk, butter, etc.)
__

in the first link, notice how Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh cluster near the bottom for CPI, rent, local purchasing and other indexes. when outsiders look at south asians as poor and backward, what they don't realize is that cost of living here is much less than even most developing countries, and prices are very politically sensitive. hence the nominal figures, or even purchasing power parity in fact, do not adequately capture this disparity in how far an international dollar will go here compared to other places.

this comparison is ridiculous
for example, in rent, Taiwan is cheaper than China????????
so ridiculous.....
they must regard beijing shanghai as the whole China.
the rent of Beijing or Shanghai could be 20 times of small cities.

That is why GDP per Capita (PPP) is a good measure. But here too South Asia doesn't fare too well. Plus many Sub-Saharan African countries have not been covered in the above map.

not really
food or rent consumption may be just a small part of ppl's salary, especially for countries where most ppl live in their own houses.
besides, if haircut is cheap, it means the barber makes little money. if agricultural products are cheap, it means the peasants earn little.
even for the vegetables, in supermarkets of developed nations, they are pre-processed and much cleaner than in a dirty market in developing nations. The quality is different....